Irvine council OKs Great Park audit, ends contracts, cuts board

Irvine City Council member Larry Agran defends the Great Park Board of Directors during a City Council meeting Tuesday night. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Newly elected Supervisor Todd Spitzer addresses the Irvine City Council during public comments on three big Great Park proposals up for a vote Tuesday night. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Irvine Councilman Larry Agran brought boxes and papers in to illustrate the planning that's been accomplished on the Great Park during the council meeting Tuesday night. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Irvine City Council members, from left, Jeff Lalloway, Mayor Steven S. Choi, Christina Shea and Larry Agran prepare for public comments on three big Great Park proposals up for a vote Tuesday night. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Newly-elected Supervisor Todd Spitzer addresses the Irvine City Council during public comments on three big Great Park proposals up for a vote Tuesday night. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Irvine Councilwoman Beth Krom addresses the public before hearing from constituents on three big Great Park proposals up for a vote Tuesday night. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Newly elected Supervisor Todd Spitzer addresses the Irvine City Council during public comments on three big Great Park proposals up for a vote Tuesday night. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Irvine City Council member Larry Agran defends the Great Park Board of Directors during a City Council meeting Tuesday night. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Update: IRVINE – On a night when there was little if any consensus among two factions of Irvine's City Council, the last vote at 1:34 a.m. Wednesday was unanimous – all five council members voted in favor of seeking proposals from auditors to take a closer look at the Great Park's books since 2005, a motion made by returning Councilwoman Christina Shea.

A proposal from Mayor Steven Choi to cut the nine-person Great Park Corp.'s board of directors to five by eliminating all of the appointed positions, and another by Councilman Jeff Lalloway to immediately terminate the park's contracts with public relations firm Forde & Mollrich and lobbying firm Townsend Public Affairs Inc. also won approval but with 3-2 votes. Council members Beth Krom and Larry Agran opposed the measures.

Lalloway, in introducing his motion, revealed that Newport-based Forde & Mollrich - which has worked for the city for about 14 years beginning with its fight to defeat the proposal to build a commercial airport at El Toro – has been paid $19.8 million over that time, with $12.4 million of that earned after the city in March 2002 won Measure W, which called for the Great Park plan.

"We need to stop talking about building a Great Park and actually start building a Great Park," he said.

It took several hours before any votes were made, with the first, on Choi's proposal, at 10:57 p.m. after lengthy comments from each council member, responses to more than 30 members of the public as well as back-and-forth arguments among the council about procedural issues.

In explaining his proprosal to winnow the Great Park's board, Choi said his encounters with other elected officials have been embarrassing because the first question is undoubtedly, "How's the Great Park?"

He said now is the time to focus and rethink the park's development and do it cost-efficiently.

He questioned whether the city is in the park-construction business or in the entertainment business. The park has hosted numerous events, concerts and theatrical performances – what officials have called "activating" the park.

"Of course when you throw a party, people will come," Choi said.

Krom and Agran, long in the council's voting majority but no longer, since November, defended their efforts to build the Great Park in the last decade.

"Yes, I'm part of the old majority. I'm proud of what we did," Krom said, noting that her majority could have consolidated the board's power to just the City Council. "We didn't do that. I'm glad we didn't do that."

Agran compared the Great Park project to the development of the former military base in neighboring Tustin, where the council oversees all aspects of the project.

"They have not produced one single stick in the ground," he said. "I fear the same trend for our own city."

Before Tuesday night's vote, the Great Park board had been relegated to an advisory role for several years, with decisions requiring a vote from the city council.

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Earlier: IRVINE – It may not have been an elephant, but a heap of document boxes and thick rolls of construction plans sat on the floor of Irvine's City Council chambers at the behest of longtime Councilman Larry Agran to signify $50 million worth of work on the Great Park's design.

It sat there for two hours before a word was uttered about the park at Tuesday's City Council meeting, where three proposals also sat at the ready for debate and discussion.

And debated they were. Hearty crowd applause often signaled opposition to the new political majority's measures, with few exceptions. The proceedings were called "childish" by Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, the first public speaker on the issue.

As of 9 p.m., a filled council chamber was still listening to public speakers – more than 30 – on the first of three proposals, one to take the nine-member Great Park board to five by dismissing four appointed seats meant to represent views outside Irvine's city limits. Two other proposed a forensic audit and termination of contracts for lobbying and public relations.

The main event for Tuesday's Irvine City Council, discussion of three proposals affecting the park, didn't start until 7 p.m., nearly two hours after the meeting's 5 p.m. start.

A few commenters urged Shea to be a swing vote and vote no on the proposal to eliminate four board members.

Despite losing political control of the council, Agran got the first word on the Great Park discussion.

He pointed to a heap of more than 20 boxes of documents and several thick rolls of construction plans that represented the park's $50 million master design plans that he requested staff members to collect and position on the floor of the chamber on a wooden pallet.

"I want you to see all the documentation, the summaries, the executive summaries," he told the crowd. "I won't claim to have read it all," he said, adding that the city got its money worth.

Behind the pile played a slideshow laying out the park's value, saying the park still had $50 million in cash on hand, along with photos of the park's built features, most featuring the balloon, and a number he said amounted to the total visitors in 2012: 763,813.

Lalloway took issue with the numbers mentioned, specifically that $52 million in cash is still available. The figure is closer to $20 million to $30 million, he said.

"The board has failed in its initiative to build the Great Park," Lalloway said.

He defended the proposal to winnow the nine-member Great Park board to the five elected council members.

"We will listen to every voice," he said, adding that the board had long ago ceded its authority to the City Council and became an advisory board.

"Like it or not, it happened long before I got here."

Agran also criticized a statement made by returning Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer that he would seek a voter referendum to take over the Great Park if the new Irvine majority didn't show progress in the next year or so.

"We've had a little experience with Orange County. They're the ones that wanted to jam an airport down our throats," Agran said, adding the county's early 1990s bankruptcy and efforts to expand a prison near the city's border to the county's misdeeds.

With a controlled fury, Spitzer during public comments defended his role in defeating the airport plan and singled out Agran for maligning the county, and him by proxy.

For more than a decade, Agran led the majority that imposed its vision on the Great Park, Spitzer said, adding that while the park is beautiful, he didn't think a palm court, a balloon and a merry-go-round are what voters who supported Measure W wanted.

"You know what? It's their vision now. You're in the minority," he said to Agran.

"We have a great opportunity but amazing responsibility," he said. "Let the new majority give it a try."

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